Josh Kazdan – Stanford Dailyhttps://old.stanforddaily.com
9/15/2019Fri, 15 Jun 2018 19:06:57 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.14Radio show hosted at Stanford talks ethics of driverless carshttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/05/31/radio-show-hosted-at-stanford-talks-ethics-of-driverless-cars/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/05/31/radio-show-hosted-at-stanford-talks-ethics-of-driverless-cars/#respondWed, 31 May 2017 00:56:41 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1128695Philosophy Talk, a national public radio show hosted by two Stanford professors, presented the ethical dilemmas introduced by self-driving cars last Wednesday in Cubberley Auditorium.

Aired on more than 100 radio stations, Philosophy Talk’s latest edition featured professor of psychology at Harvard University Joshua Greene. Greene and the show’s hosts focused on the moral and safety implications of having computers as drivers. Ken Taylor, the show’s co-host, worried about the ramifications of allowing computers to remove moral agency from human drivers.

Currently, approximately 1.3 million people die every year in car accidents. According to the talk’s speakers, even though engineers believe that driving algorithms could eliminate the majority of these deaths, questions remain about how computers will keep people safe. For example: If a car has the opportunity to save 10 individuals by swerving in front of a truck that is barreling towards a school bus filled with children, should the car do so? These are the kinds of questions the Philosophy Talk episode sought to explore.

Another concern that Philosophy Talk discussed is the number of jobs that will become obsolete as a result of automated driving. According to the American Trucking Associations, 3.5 million people are professional truck drivers in the U.S. alone. Automated cars could at least temporarily cause a spike in unemployment, and it is not immediately apparent where new jobs will be created, speakers on the Philosophy Talk episode said.

The show also examined potential benefits of self-driving cars. Matt Hermann – the senior managing director of Ascension Ventures, a firm that invests with the goal of improving health care technology – outlined to The Daily how self-driving cars could promote independent living and mobility for the elderly. According to Hermann, allowing cars to drop off and pick up without drivers could additionally allow people to share cars and reduce waste.

However, Hermann also noted the potential pitfalls of autonomous vehicles. Along with unemployment risks and morally charged decisions, Hermann also warned against the damage that cyber attacks on self-driving cars could cause. As technology continues to progress in many industries, Hermann emphasized the importance of making careful decisions about technological and ethical priorities.

Currently, 15 states have already released legislation about autonomous vehicles, and three others have executive orders out on the subject. Forty-one of the 50 states have debated legislation.

Meanwhile, car-makers continue to push their technologies forward. Elon Musk has announced that the first fully autonomous Tesla will be developed by next year. Uber said that its fleet will be driverless by 2030, and Ford, Toyota and Audi have all declared that they intend to have self-driving vehicles out by 2020.

Regardless of when driverless cars take to the roads, both Hermann and Greene agreed that philosophers and engineers must take a stance to ask and answer important moral questions about autonomous driving technology in tandem with the cars.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/05/31/radio-show-hosted-at-stanford-talks-ethics-of-driverless-cars/feed/0Q&A with astronaut alum Kate Rubinshttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/05/12/qa-with-astronaut-alum-kate-rubins/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/05/12/qa-with-astronaut-alum-kate-rubins/#respondFri, 12 May 2017 01:30:54 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1127417Stanford alum Kate Rubins Ph.D. ’06 P.D. ’07 became the 60th woman to go to outer space on June 6, 2015. During a three-and-a-half month session on the International Space Station, Rubins participated in the first successful effort to sequence DNA under low-gravity conditions. She graduated from UC San Diego and got her Ph.D. in microbiology from Stanford. The Daily spoke with Rubins about her work in space.

The Stanford Daily (TSD): Your background is primarily in biology. Could you tell me a little bit about your journey from molecular biologist to astronaut?

Kate Rubins (KR): When I was at Stanford I was actually in the cancer biology program, but I mostly focused on infectious disease. I had full intentions of continuing my research career, then one of my friends called me one day and said, “I saw there are astronaut applications online, and didn’t you want to be an astronaut when you were a kid? You should apply!” I thought, “That would be fun, but this isn’t a real job that people actually do. But sure, I’ll put my application in.” One thing led to another and they ended up calling me down to Houston for an interview.

TSD: You can just apply to be an astronaut online?

KR: Well, we select a class every three or four years. So we’re actually just wrapping up our current class selection right now. We had about 18,000 applicants and we’re selecting between eight to 16 astronauts for the 2017 class. We have just a little over 40 astronauts right now. You have a few years between missions. It’s about 2 1/2 years between missions.

TSD: What is the allure of going into space for you?

KR: It’s something that I was always interested in as a kid. When I started working at NASA and understanding what the capabilities really were of the space station and the space program, one of the biggest draws for me was the ability to do experiments in space. We can do a number of experiments where gravity is actually a variable.

TSD: What was your first experience like in space?

KR: I was there for 115 days. We launched out of Kazakhstan in a Soyuz rocket. We were in that vehicle for two days. It was the first launch in a block of new Soyuz vehicles. So we had a number of launch and checkout objectives, and then after two days we rendezvoused with the space station. These were very different experiences. It was fascinating to be in something so small that you could actually feel the engines when they fire. It was amazing to see how huge the space station is. I got to see the outside of it and then come and dock with that vehicle.

TSD: Could you talk about your project of sequencing DNA in space?

KR: It was a consortium effort between a number of universities and the microbiology lab and Johnson Space Center. One of the reasons that we were interested in this was, first, a technology demonstration. Would there be problems with the fluidics in microgravity? [The application is] something where you want to get a real time answer. For example, if you have an unidentified microbe on the space station, rather than waiting for several months to take a sample and send it back to earth, you can immediately sequence it and get an answer. You can get real time information about something that happens microbiologically. As we start going past low-earth orbit, we won’t be able to send samples back to the planet. So we’re starting to understand how we can use this technology further and further from earth. This is one of the suite of tools that you’d use for astrobiology and life detection. I’m not sure it’s the only thing you’d use. You might not have something that’s necessarily nucleic acid-based. You may use spectroscopy or something. This is of clinical significance if you have to diagnose an infection during a long-duration exploration mission.

TSD: What do you see as the future of space exploration, and what do you see as the time frame for missions to Mars?

KR: First, there will be some of these long-duration, maybe year-long or more missions, then you would eventually launch this habitat into a Mars mission. NASA has set the goal of 2033 for a Mars mission. I think designing the infrastructure and the capabilities to take us beyond low-earth orbit will be happening in the next 10 years. I think the folks in undergrad and grad school are more of our target team. So look for astronaut applications as they’re coming out!

At first glance, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering David Lentink’s lab appears part machine shop and part aerospace development lab. The lab contains a small wind tunnel that emerges from one side of the room and recedes into the opposite wall. However, unlike other wind tunnels, this one has been specifically designed to study the flight of birds.

Lentink and his assistant Mark Deetjen, a third-year mechanical engineering Ph.D. candidate, are developing a new method to map dynamic surfaces in order to discover key features of bird’s wings, which could be applied to the study of any flight movement. According to Lentink, this could have implications in the growing drone market.

Lentink has been fascinated by bird flight for the majority of his career. Even pigeons, which he described to The Daily as “not accomplished fliers,” easily maneuver through tricky air currents created by wind and towers in large cities. By comparison, laws ban drones from flying in similar conditions because of the risk to pedestrians and windows. Through his research, Lentink hopes to understand what birds have that drones do not.

In past studies, researchers projected an array of dots or colors onto birds while filming their flight. Deetjen instead uses a type of barcode that provides data faster. A series of projectors and cameras flash and record this grid onto the birds’ bodies as they move, sometimes as many as 3,200 times per second. This allows the researchers to create computerized models of the wings during flight.

Lentink uses the system to compare and contrast the designs of birds’ wings and those of airplanes.

According to Lentink, aeronautical engineers generally build static airplane wings to function best at their cruising speed. However, birds can change the shape of their wings to accommodate a variety of flight velocities and wind patterns, granting them stability that airplanes may never obtain.

Furthermore, while airplanes often have to reach speeds of over 150 miles per hour in order to take off, birds have developed an entirely different mechanism that allows them to rise faster. They tilt their wings up to 60 degrees from the horizontal, leap into the air and beat their wings rapidly. Through this process, birds can support their body weight using pressure drag rather than using lift as airplanes do. Once in the air, birds can shift their wings to permit forward flight.

This radical angling of the bird’s wings shocked Lentink, who initially believed that he had obtained bad data. Airplanes stall when their wings tilt above 15 degrees from the horizontal, and insects rarely tilt above 30. However, it appears that this strategy allows for a fast and efficient takeoff for birds.

According to Lentink, the new technology and its findings could change the drone market. Currently, the best drone is a “hummingbird,” which hovers well but struggles to fly forward. This machine weighs about five times as much as a natural hummingbird. In addition, most drones cannot cope well in varying weather conditions, and turbulence and clutter can be fatal for drones in cities, according to Lentink. Thus, studying the flight of birds may help researchers create more effective designs for drones in rough conditions.

For his studies, Lentink mainly uses Stanford-owned parrotlets, the second smallest birds in the world.

“They are very fast learners,” Lentink said.

One of the most intelligent birds in the group, Ferrari, can learn new behavior after just a single round of positive reinforcement. Lentink uses a clicker each time the bird exhibits a desired behavior, and then gives it a seed.

“The others are quick, too,” Lentink said. “But not as fast as an Italian sports car.”

Lentink believes there is much work to be done before scientists mechanize machines to fly like Ferrari. Understanding how birds orient and use their wings provides the first insight into designing smooth-flying urban machines. While Lentink doesn’t see bird technology entering the aerospace industry for at least five to 10 years, he remains hopeful that scientists will one day be able to replicate bird flight.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/18/stanford-researchers-record-3d-bird-flight-to-improve-drones/feed/0NEW.041817.ParrotsGraduate student Marc E. Deetjen trains a parrotlet to fly between perches. Courtesy of Stanford News.Campus alcohol statistics shift under new policieshttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/11/campus-alcohol-statistics-shift-under-new-policies/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/11/campus-alcohol-statistics-shift-under-new-policies/#respondTue, 11 Apr 2017 00:49:52 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1125647In an open letter to student staff last week, Ralph Castro, director of the Office of Alcohol Policy and Education (OAPE), highlighted changes in alcohol consumption on campus as a potential result of new restrictions on hard alcohol that came into effect in the fall of 2016.

Student Affairs and the Alcohol Advisory Board have been working with a “national expert” and University staff to measure the impact of the new policies, Castro wrote. The policy changes included the prohibition of high volume containers of hard alcohol as well as a ban on all hard alcohol at undergraduate parties. The new rules prompted concerns among some students and faculty when they were announced; many argued the changes would damage the relationship between Residential Staff and students as well increase dangerous activity by encouraging drinking behind closed doors.

While Castro noted that Stanford needs “more time to measure sustained change,” he suggested that the policy changes have had positive effects on the student body.

He cited a 34 percent decrease in the number of alcohol-caused transports this year compared to the previous five-year average. In addition, he wrote, campus has seen a 22 percent drop in the number of citations this year for minors in possession of alcohol.

While 79 percent of freshmen in 2015 claimed to have taken shots, 64 percent of the Class of 2020 reported similar behavior; similarly, in 2015, 78 percent of freshmen said they pre-gamed, while in 2016 63 percent did. Upperclass students’ alcohol habits showed little change, however.

Castro also noted a disparity between how students see themselves and others following the new policies. Findings showed that 12 percent of Stanford students believe that their peers follow the rules, while 55 percent of students self-reported adherence to them. Multiple anonymous student sources told The Daily they were hesitant to believe that students and staff would follow the new guidelines on hard alcohol possession.

Similarly, Resident Assistants (RAs) who spoke to The Daily said they were reluctant to carry the rules out.

“We are taking a pretty liberal stance in how we enforce the policy,” said one RA of a freshman dorm. “We are not police officers. Our primary role is the well-being of the residents … I have never personally confiscated alcohol.”

OAPE has been building up programs to encourage safe alcohol use. With a large anonymous donation received earlier in the year, Cardinal Nights has expanded its programming and will continue to do so, and OAPE has purchased a second hybrid car to drive intoxicated students back to their residences. OAPE also has plans to bring a well-known comedian or performer to campus every quarter and increase the pay of peer health educators (PHEs) with a stipend of $1,000 to conduct alcohol and drug outreach. This will be in addition to the recent $3,075 pay raise recently given to PHEs following controversy over the wage gap between PHEs and RAs.

“Spring is always a risky time with alcohol,” Castro wrote, encouraging student staff to set an example for residents.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

Editor’s note: a prior version of the graphic in this article showed incorrect information. The Daily regrets these errors.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/11/campus-alcohol-statistics-shift-under-new-policies/feed/0alcohol graphicStanford study examines extent, implications of African deforestationhttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/05/stanford-study-examines-extent-implications-of-african-deforestation/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/05/stanford-study-examines-extent-implications-of-african-deforestation/#respondWed, 05 Apr 2017 00:28:07 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1125362A recent study by researchers in the School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences has found that an Iceland-sized region of Africa has been undergoing harmful deforestation since the beginning of the 21st century.

Researchers have found that burgeoning soy and palm oil markets have pushed agricultural production into new tropical regions. Although Africa’s deforestation rates still remain far below those of South America, the vast tracts of land that have been cleared for the production of cash crops pose an ecological threat.

Historically, the majority of sub-Saharan agriculture has occurred through small farmers running local enterprises. However, as the demand for soy and palm oil expands, larger commercial enterprises have begun to take hold. Property conflicts motivate these profiteering companies to clear new farmland rather than cultivate existing plots, further exacerbating the depletion of native vegetation.

Deforestation poses a serious threat to the economy and people of Africa. African forests make up 30 percent of the total forest area worldwide and provide food and income for 100 million people.

Although forests have already been severely damaged, the researchers remain hopeful that African legislators will learn from the experience of South America and Southeast Asia when it comes to deforestation policy.

Over 60 percent of global deforestation occurs in Brazil and Indonesia, where poor conservation policies failed to conserve the natural habitat. Other developing nations have implemented a myriad of variant policies with some success. African politicians gauging the best path forward will have the benefit of observing what has previously worked and failed.

“In Africa, we have the opportunity to take lessons learned from other regions and recommend preventive policies,” said Elsa Ordway, a fourth-year Ph.D. student and lead author of the researchers’ paper, to Stanford News. “We are starting to better understand issues related to large-scale agriculture expansion in the tropics.”

The researchers have published several steps to promote economic growth in tandem with environmental stewardship. They believe that investing in small-scale operations that grow minimally destructive crops could simultaneously generate revenue and preserve natural resources. Finally, they hope that their research will spur greater enthusiasm to sign United Nations commitments to conservation.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/04/05/stanford-study-examines-extent-implications-of-african-deforestation/feed/0NEW.040517.DeforestationResearchers examined deforestation caused by expanding palm oil and soy markets (Courtesy of Stanford News).New Tree joins the foresthttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/03/02/new-tree-joins-the-forest/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/03/02/new-tree-joins-the-forest/#respondThu, 02 Mar 2017 01:00:18 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1124136At the conclusion of Tree Week this year, Tyler Clark ’18 emerged as the new Stanford Tree. Clark performed an exorcism and traveled out of the country in an effort to impress the Leland Stanford Junior Marching Band (LSJUMB) over the course of the two-week audition period.

The Daily reached out to Clark to discuss his new position, but Clark decided to throw some challenges our way beforehand.

When contacted to set up an interview, Clark first replied in Japanese.

“Meet me at 9:20 p.m. sharp in the cactus garden,” Clark wrote. “My Tree costume will not be created until the summer, but I will wear a traditional skin passed down from my ancestors.”

Finally, the Tree arrived at the cactus garden.

New Stanford Tree Tyler Clark ’18 (JOSH KAZDAN/The Stanford Daily).

The Stanford Daily (TSD): Why do you identify with the Stanford Tree? What made you apply for this post?

Tyler Clark (TC): It’s kinda something you’re born into. Honestly, there’s no real trying out for Tree. You don’t know you’re the Tree, but it’s a real destiny. As for why I might have been a good candidate, it’s all about rocking out as hard as you can. You know this world is a simulation, but you don’t really know who’s running it. Well, the Trees run it. The Trees pick someone every year to join them. I’m excited to peek behind the scenes of this binary world and see how it really works. It’s all about who has the most soul – the most funk.

TSD: Can you tell me a little bit about what you went through to become the Tree?

TC: I honestly kind of wing things. But I did things that I’ve really wanted to do for a really long time. For my entrance [to announce that I was running for Tree], I came in a gigantic can of Chef Boyardee that I made and covered myself in Miracle Grow and Pinesol. I booked a one-way ticket to Tijuana, and Sam [Weyen ’18], the current Tree, took me out to the airport. And I actually hitchhiked back to Stanford over the weekend.

TSD: Can you tell us about some other stunts?

TC: I had an exorcism in front of the Band Shak. In order to save Band, you need a real source of funk. So we took some of the funk out of my soul and used that. I also went to every athletics event this quarter. I think it was about 55. The other candidate, Magic [Sam Sagan ’18], and I ate the world’s hottest pepper in the Bender room and then played chess to see who could get milk first. I’ve actually eaten the pepper five times now. I think that was a big reason why the forest picked me.

TSD: What did Magic do for his audition?

TC: He hugged a former drum major for 28 hours straight in order to break the world record for longest hug.

TSD: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? Where are you from? What did you come to Stanford to do other than be the Tree?

TC: I grew up in a place called Lockton, Texas, which is in a huge region called the Piney Woods. Every single day I’d walk outside, and there’d be pine trees everywhere; there was no diversity whatsoever in flora. I felt it was kind of my destiny that I grew up on a street called Sprucewood Drive for 15 years, too. Honestly, I kind of came here just to be the Tree. I remember visiting Stanford during Admit Weekend and seeing the Tree and knowing that I wanted to be him. Academics are kinda cool, I guess. But right now the emphasis is on just rockin’.

TSD: Do you have any plans for what the new Tree is going to look like?

TC: I’m looking to make something a little bit more abstract. You shouldn’t necessarily expect something from the past. Something outside the bounds of what your mind can envision or comprehend as a tree.

TSD: What do you see as the difference between being laughed at and with?

TC: Part of the role of being the Tree is playing a little bit of the role of court jester. People are always going to laugh at you, but you have to not care. There are people who get it, people who enjoy what you’re doing. If people don’t – oh well.

Arrow was Stanford’s Joan Kenney Professor of Economics and professor of operations research, emeritus. In 1972, at the age of 51, he became the youngest economist to win a Nobel Prize, setting a record that still stands.

Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, died last Tuesday(Courtesy of Stanford News Service).

His work revolved around theories of social choice. Central to Arrow’s research is the “general impossibility theorem,” in which he demonstrated that it is impossible for group social preference orderings to reflect the actual desires of all logical individuals within the group. Arrow explained how, through individual efforts to promote self-interest, group elections will inevitably reduce the welfare of some within the group.

Arrow showed that the results of certain elections are actually arbitrary, based more on the options at hand and the order those options are presented in than personal and societal values.

Arrow also led his field with contributions in many other areas of economics, including information asymmetry and general equilibrium theory. In the former, he explored how an imbalance of information in transactions favors the seller and creates an incentive to cheat the buyer. In the latter, he explained the behavior of supply and demand in a single economy with multiple interacting markets, demonstrating how those interactions lead to a general equilibrium. Proving that ideal markets can exist by the nature of mathematical logic, Arrow spent much time highlighting the flaws of actual markets that prevent such an optimal state.

Much of Arrow’s fame comes from his rigorous treatment of economics as a science, an approach encouraged by his academic background. Arrow received a bachelor’s degree in social science and mathematics from the City College of New York before continuing on to Columbia University to study mathematics in graduate school.

In his later years, Arrow served as an economic advisor for multiple presidents, and five of his students went on to become Nobel Prize winners as well.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/02/27/renowned-economist-kenneth-arrow-dies-at-95/feed/0NEW.022717.Arrow-2Kenneth Arrow, a Nobel Prize-winning economist and professor, died last Tuesday
(Courtesy of Stanford News Service).Old country jail discovered on campushttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/02/23/old-country-jail-discovered-on-campus/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/02/23/old-country-jail-discovered-on-campus/#respondThu, 23 Feb 2017 00:16:07 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1123549A new initiative to save the California red-legged frog on campus grounds has become an archaeology project to find an old country jail west of Page Mill Road.

Jail excavation site (Courtesy of Stanford News).

Since the red-legged frog was named California’s state amphibian in 2014, Stanford has decided to modify its grounds to accommodate and protect their habitats in accordance with state law. However, California legislation also requires the preservation of certain archaeological sites, prompting Stanford Grounds to begin a search for an old country jail before modifying the frog’s habitat.

University archaeologist Laura Jones describes the jail as a facility built almost entirely of concrete. The floor has a 6-foot-deep foundation, as well as solid 6-inch concrete walls. The prison resembles the outlines found in a manual on penitentiary construction housed in the archives. The main architectural objective was to reduce breakouts.

Jones currently believes that the roof was made of corrugated metal and was strapped on with steel bands to prevent criminals from escaping. The building had no plumbing and likely lacked windows as well. However, Jones said that it might have housed small stoves for heat during the winter.

Jane Stanford leased a plot of campus land approximately a mile from the main quad to the state for the prison in 1905. At the time, El Camino Real was a dirt country road that would become mucky during the rainy season. Jane Stanford leased the land believing that if the prison were built on campus, the state would pave the road.

The prison never posed a distinct danger to students. Inmates were generally criminals who served (at most) 90-day sentences for crimes like larceny, while dangerous felons would have been held in a more secure, off-campus location.

Prisoners would work in the surrounding quarries chipping rocks for road construction. The jail lasted until 1925, when the quarries were instead leased to for-profit companies that did not use prison labor. In the 1960s, all mining operations ceased after professors living in the area complained about the destructive nature of the mining industry.

Jones believes this project holds significance for students studying prison reform and the lives of inmates in the early 20th-century American west. The prison was built before reform laws were enacted to improve the lives of convicted criminals, meaning that the site bears signs of a less humane era of incarceration. Because the prison has ample documentation describing it and was built pre-reform, Jones thinks that it could eventually make for an interesting archaeological project.

The discovery of the jail also marks an intersection of archaeology and technology. When combing the area by hand failed to turn up anything, Jones overlaid the old maps found in the archives onto a modern topographical map. The university then hired a Geographic Information Systems team to employ radar technology in the area. Under a pile of debris that had been dumped in the area at an earlier time, the group noticed a soil disturbance, which turned out to be the jail.

Jones says that her job is to ensure that the jail will be available if someone wants to study it at a later date, but its future is currently undecided. If no one is currently interested in it, the jail could potentially be reburied in order to remain preserved. The fate of the old jail also depends on environmental engineering plans in the area, as well as any decision made about the California red-legged frog.

“Everything kind of depends on what they decide to do with the frogs,” Jones concluded.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/02/23/old-country-jail-discovered-on-campus/feed/0jailJail excavation site (Courtesy of Stanford News).Mullaney brings Stanford archives to more studentshttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/01/18/mullaney-brings-stanford-archives-to-more-students/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/01/18/mullaney-brings-stanford-archives-to-more-students/#respondWed, 18 Jan 2017 00:09:21 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1121549More student researchers will now have the opportunity to hold primary source documents in their hands, rather than viewing them through a computer screen.

Tom Mullaney, an associate professor of Chinese history, has spearheaded the new initiative “Massively Multiplayer Humanities” to allow more students to access Stanford’s archives. The Stanford Libraries possess a massive collection of primary source documents, including a first edition work by Galileo, a leaf from a Gutenberg Bible and a host of ancient manuscripts.

However, most students in the humanities don’t encounter this collection until they take higher-level classes, normally in their junior or senior year. Mullaney, in a partnership with Henry Lowood, curator for the Stanford Libraries, hopes to increase accessibility to these primary source works.

Mullaney has proposed inviting classes of up to 150 students to search through the works, rather than the normal class sizes of 10-15 students. Students are now able to find works in which their professors are not well-versed, providing for a more dynamic classroom environment.

Lowood hopes that allowing students to experience working and thinking as historians will help them determine their passion for various subjects. In addition, the ability to access documents that tie in directly with the history that students are learning has allowed them to produce more genuine and original history papers in the past.

Mullaney’s upcoming spring class, “History of Information: From Moveable Type to Machine Learning,” will be the fourth installment of the initiative.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2017/01/18/mullaney-brings-stanford-archives-to-more-students/feed/0Panel addresses environmental policy under Trumphttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/12/01/panel-addresses-environmental-policy-under-trump/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/12/01/panel-addresses-environmental-policy-under-trump/#respondThu, 01 Dec 2016 00:04:50 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1120551Environmental policy could face setbacks under a climate-skeptic Trump administration, but it may be too early to call doom and gloom, according to a Stanford Law School panel.

The panel included four political experts on climate change who spoke on the potential ramifications of Trump’s presidency on environmental policies. The bipartisan panel contained members whose specialties spanned political and environmental science as well as law.

Jeremy Carl of the Hoover Institution began by stating that much of the hysteria surrounding Trump’s proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is unfounded. However, according to Carl, most of them do not follow through on the policy changes that they promise in their campaigns. Carl also believes much of what will happen to the EPA and American climate policy is contingent upon Trump’s appointees, who hold a diversity of opinions regarding global warming.

Michael Wara, a Clinton supporter and an expert on energy and environmental law, further explained that environmental policy change is typically a slow process that contains many checks.

“I try not to assume the best, and I try not to assume the worst,” said Wara. “How the country operates is not what [Trump] says on Twitter.”

He continued to explain that the bureaucratic nature of American government stymies the rate of change. The majority of congressional committees are bipartisan and slow-moving, and the EPA produces at most two major environmental policy changes per year. Wara noted that it has taken President Obama eight years to enact environmental policy changes, and Trump can’t reverse these initiatives by “waving a magic wand.”

Furthermore, Wara believes that the potential abolition of free trade poses the largest threat to progress in environmental policy, as it can occur much more quickly than environmental policy change. Since most of the supply chains for efficient batteries, solar panels and wind turbines originate in China, abolition of free trade would pose a serious threat to attainment of these commodities. While Trump cannot unilaterally defund the EPA, he has significant power over American trade policy and its involvement in the United Nations. If he truly decides to abolish free trade, as he promised in his campaign, then the cost of energy-efficient technology could skyrocket. Furthermore, the United States could sidestep any U.N. agreements on the climate, reducing their impact.

Katherine Mach of the Stanford Woods Institute ended on her worry over climbing carbon dioxide levels and temperatures, what is generally regarded as the danger zone of an increase of 2 degree2 Celsius. Climate scientists predict that when humans have released 3 trillion tons of carbon dioxide, positive feedback loops will come into effect, and warming will be much more difficult to reverse. Currently, humans have produced approximately 2 trillion tons of carbon dioxide. Already, Mach notes, Arctic villages are falling into the sea and Florida is experiencing intense flooding due to climate change.

Despite potential setbacks to environmental policy, all of the speakers expressed varying degrees of optimism about the future. Mach noted the “substantial momentum” to stop climate change has garnered, while Wara added that Trump could add job opportunities in the development of free energy. Carl said that the environment is not at the top of most Americans’ concerns, and he predicts that Trump will be unwilling to use his limited political capital simply to anger environmental activists.

“He’s a deal man,” Carl said.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazdan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/12/01/panel-addresses-environmental-policy-under-trump/feed/0Arthur Brooks speaks on the relationship between happiness and economicshttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/11/04/arthur-brooks-speaks-on-the-relationship-between-happiness-and-economics/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/11/04/arthur-brooks-speaks-on-the-relationship-between-happiness-and-economics/#respondFri, 04 Nov 2016 01:00:32 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1119220The Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) invited Arthur Brooks, head of the American Enterprise Institute, to campus this week to speak about the relationship between happiness and a capitalist society.

Brooks opened by telling the audience he believes that the greatest mistranslation of all time is “Money is the source of all evil.” In reality, Brooks said, this phrase from the book of Paul means “the love of money is the source of all evil.” Brooks asserted that it is not money that makes America unhappy but instead the pursuit of “exogenous” rather than “endogenous” goals.

When asked what comprises the most meaningful life, Brooks responded “relationships, people and love.”
A devout Christian, Brooks also places a heavy emphasis on faith. Brooks discovered that the practice of philanthropy, a fundamental tenet of traditional Christianity, garners more wealth.

“The more you give to charity, the richer you get,” Brooks said.

When his studies first uncovered this result, he thought that his dataset was wrong — it sounded counterintuitive. However, according to Brooks, those who give gain leader status amongst their peers, have a lower concentration of stress hormones and thus are more capable of solving problems.

According to Brooks, capitalism and philanthropic philosophy are not contradictory. He believes that free enterprise provides the most efficient avenue to happiness for the greatest number of people. While many believe that capitalism bestows the majority of its benefits on the rich, Brooks contests this notion.

“Capitalism is great for the poor,” Brooks said. “However, [capitalism] is very dangerous for the rich.”
According to Brooks, as people can easily fall into the common trap of adoring money.

Addressing the college-aged crowd, Brooks voiced concern about the reduction in mobility amongst young Americans. According to Brooks, millennials are half as likely to change classes as members of his own generation, which suggests to him that they lack the skills and the will to chase opportunity wherever it presents itself. This death of both physical and economic mobility, he theorized, lies at the heart of the populism that has generated turmoil in the 2016 election season.

Brooks said that America needs to train its next generation with the skills that they will need to find employment.

Finally, Brooks discussed the elements of his own life that have brought him the greatest happiness. He described the memorable times spent with his children and wife, promising that he can recall every detail of his trips to the beach and the Christmas hunting excursions that he takes with his son. However, Brooks said that he remembered almost nothing about things that he owned or wanted in his youth, which he takes as anecdotal evidence of the essentiality of pursuing intrinsically valuable goals rather than hoarding possessions.

Brooks reflected that his own role as an economist is to figure out and tell people how they can live their lives in a way that will make them the happiest.

Contact Josh Kazdan at jkazadan ‘at’ stanford.edu.

]]>https://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/11/04/arthur-brooks-speaks-on-the-relationship-between-happiness-and-economics/feed/0Venezuelan Student Association hosts father of political prisonerhttps://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/10/28/venezuelan-student-association-hosts-father-of-political-prisoner/
https://old.stanforddaily.com/2016/10/28/venezuelan-student-association-hosts-father-of-political-prisoner/#respondFri, 28 Oct 2016 00:21:34 +0000http://www.stanforddaily.com/?p=1118834The Venezuelan Student Association hosted Leopoldo Lopez Sr., father of Leopoldo López, Venezuelan political prisoner and leader of the Venezuelan Political Party Voluntad Popular. Lopez Sr. spoke about his son’s new book, “Preso Pero Libre” (Imprisoned, Yet Free) and the political climate of Venezuela.

“In 2014, there were protests because they had four students — only four — detained,” Lopez Sr. said.

According to Lopez Sr., more than 4000 people are currently designated “political prisoners” in Venezuela. Human rights groups have prompted a global outcry on Lopez Jr.’s behalf. Due to his potential to lead a revolution in Venezuela, Lopez Jr. remains incarcerated.

Lopez Jr. held wide popular appeal in Venezuela, and The Economist speculates that he was the main target of the ban-from-office placed on hundreds of prospective incumbents around the country. Prior to his arrest, Lopez Jr. headed a branch of the Democratic Unity Party, calling on the nation to peacefully demonstrate for a transition in government. After the government issued a warrant for his arrest, he turned himself in to the authorities before a crowd of thousands of cheering protesters, promising that he would never leave Venezuela.

Lopez has received a 13-year sentence, which has been contested by numerous political bodies outside of Venezuela. While in prison, he composed a set of memoirs, which his sister Diana helped him to smuggle out of prison to publish.

“Sometimes Leopoldo would write on her back, or she would sneak papers in her mouth or translate them from memory,” Lopez Sr. said.

Leopoldo Sr. last met his son over Christmas in 2014. In 2015, Lopez was placed in solitary confinement, and his family was no longer permitted to visit over the holiday.

“He started by saying the elections are rigged, and we cannot believe them,” Leopoldo Sr. said. Chavez proceeded to seize power via a military coup. In the ensuing years, the Venezuelan military has become an instrument of the drug trade, which has since grown to a three or four billion-dollar export industry.

“You would not believe how many people have gotten rich in a socialist government,” said Roberto, an attendee of the event and recent arrival to America from Venezuela, who withheld his last name due to safety concerns.

Lopez Sr. sees a chance for Venezuela to recapture its markets and recover its once dominant economy in South America. A potential candidate to lead the country into the post-Chavez era, Lopez Jr. has a plan to set the country back on its feet.

Despite years of solitary confinement in prison, Leopoldo Sr. says that his son’s determination remains unwavering. Lopez Jr’s book “Imprisoned Yet Free” embodies his will to transcend his incarceration and remain active in the country’s future.

“[Lopez Jr.] is a human being who has lost freedom but who is free in his spirit,” Lopez Sr. said.